Ashton Kutcher speaks out on rare disease that made him unable to see or walk
Ashton Kutcher has spoken out about his battle with a rare disease that left him struggling to see or talk.
The actor said it came out of nowhere and immediately had a huge impact on his day to day life.
Watch him open up about the scare here:
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The 44-year-old - known for his roles in the likes of Dude, Where's My Car?, The Butterfly Effect and Two and a Half Men - chatted about being afflicted by a rare form of vasculitis on Paramount+ docuseries The Checkup with Dr. David Agus.
"I woke up one day and was having vision issues [and] could hardly see," he said.
"[It] knocked out my hearing, which threw off my equilibrium, my balance and I couldn't walk. I had vasculitis, that you're very well aware of.
"There's a standard you become accustomed to in your life, like, being able to see clearly. And then suddenly, you can't see."
Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels, occurring when the immune system attacks healthy blood vessels.
Often the cause is unknown, but it can range from a minor problem that just affects the skin, to a more serious illness that causes problems with organs like the heart or kidneys, according to the NHS.
Kutcher continued: "Then you're like, 'Why are you not f***ing talking louder, 'cause I can't hear you?'
"You want to reclaim the health that you once had."
Fortunately, Kutcher has reclaimed the health that he once had.
He previously opened up about his vasculitis diagnosis on National Geographic's Running Wild with Bear Grylls, and in a subsequent tweet in August he clarified that he had fully recovered.
He wrote: "Before there are a bunch of rumors/ chatter/ whatever out there. Yes, I had a rare vasculitis episode 3yrs ago. (Autoimmune flair up)
"I had some impairments hearing, vision, balance issues right after. I fully recovered. All good. Moving on."
He told Grylls that he was lucky to survive the scare.
"Like two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis that, like, knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out, like, all my equilibrium," he recalled.
"It took me like a year to build it all back up."
He added: "You don't really appreciate it until it's gone.
"Until you go, 'I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to see again, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to hear again, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to walk again.'
"[I'm] lucky to be alive."
Jake Massey